Nonlinear Design. Introduction

In the world of forms, linearity
and non-linearity present a strong visual opposition, capable of
expressing a lot of ideas and implications. Let's learn what defines
the character, perception, and possible design uses of curvilinear
shapes.

hapes of objects in design compositions are perhaps
their most important aspect. It is almost exclusively by shape, or
contour, that we recognize anything on a page; the colors and textures
are only seasonings for the meat of forms, sizes, and spatial
relationships. So, if your goal is to achieve a professional level in
design, you simply cannot spend too much time learning to work with
shapes.

Some time ago we explored the use of geometric
primitives in design, including straight lines, rectangles, and
circles. In another article, we've also touched upon amorphousness as an important
opposition to geometry in the world of shapes. However, a shape does not
need to be amorphous in order to be perceived as something emphatically
organic, complex, even anti-geometric. I'm now referring to
non-linear forms, most often represented in computerized design
by Bezier curves.

The article starts by reminding you of the main features and
capabilities of Bezier curves. After that, we
introduce the two important concepts, curvature
range and architectonics, used to
classify the universe of curves into a number of characteristic types.
The most important part of the article is the two-dimensional chart of curve
types arranged along the coordinate axes of curvature range and
architectonics.

As the concepts discussed here may seem abstract at first, I'll spend the
rest of the article illustrating them by examples. First comes a simple example only intended to
illustrate two directly opposite curve types and the meanings they may
convey. Fonts, being a quintessence of curvilinear shapes, are very
instructive in this regard, too; so in the next section we dissect a
couple of sample letterforms trying to
understand how the curves in
their outlines define the visual traits of the font. Finally, I present
a number of recent logos created by my Studio to
show how the laws just discovered work in practice.